A woman and child on the way to vote at Franklin County’s early vote center. (Photo by Nick Evans, Ohio Capital Journal.)
In Franklin County, the first voter to line up to cast a ballot said she showed up at 2:30 in the morning. When election officials kicked off the day a few hours later, the line of roughly 500 eager voters snaked through a new indoor queueing area. But within about a half hour, spokesman Aaron Sellers explained, they’d processed that group of voters.
“I think we could probably vote upwards of about 1,000 people an hour,” Seller said Tuesday morning, as a steady stream of voters continued to flow through the early voting center.
The candidates, the ballot measures, and the tools you need to cast your vote.
Inside, election managers directed traffic, sending voters to one of 20 or so stations where workers checked IDs. Every few minutes one of them shouted out “first time voter” to claps and cheers (and an awkward grin).
There’s been some rearranging this cycle compared to previous elections. That indoor staging area, meant to get people waiting in line out of the elements, used to be one of the rooms where people cast their ballots. “What we’ve done is we’ve gained some additional square footage,” Sellers explained, noting a neighboring Gamestop and Payless shoe store recently closed and the county was able to fold that space into the board of elections.
An election worker directing a voter to a ballot reader to deposit his completed ballot. (Photo by Nick Evans, Ohio Capital Journal.)
“We just got the keys to them probably about three weeks ago — so, perfect timing,” Sellers said, “which has enabled us to have about 150 voting machines.”
He estimated that’s about 30 more machines than they had set up for early voting in 2023 or 2022. As of 3:45 in the afternoon, he said, they’d processed 3,760 voters with more than hour left of voting to go.
The voters
Gigi Manley voted in her first election Tuesday morning alongside her mom, Carol Manley.
“I’m a college student, so it’s my first year in college, and I wanted to vote now because I’m not able to come back for actual voting day,” Gigi explained.
“This is literally the only day that she could do it,” Carol said. And they showed up first thing, she explained, because Gigi was hopping on a plane to go to college in about four hours.
“We had to make sure it happened,” Carol said, “And honestly, I would have flown her back if it didn’t, because I was like, I don’t know what it’s going to be like today.”
Gigi Manley (left) with her mom Carol Manley. (Photo by Nick Evans, Ohio Capital Journal.)
Yolanda Russell made the drive from Canal Winchester, and explained she cast a vote for Kamala Harris in part because of her own experience working in the health care field.
“I don’t believe in abortion,” she said, “but I also don’t think it’s my place to say because I’ve been seeing things happen.”
Russell described a friend with three kids who got pregnant with a fourth. “And they just flat out told her, one of you won’t make it off the table, or both of you won’t make it off the table, because she had two heart murmurs.” Russell explained her friend had an abortion one week and open heart surgery the next.
“So that’s why I say that everything isn’t always just cut and dry,” she said.
Micole Spicer traveled from Whitehall, and said showing up first thing for early voting is just part of her routine. Unlike most other voters, when asked what motivated her, she immediately brought up the state and local ballot issues.
“Issue 1, Issue 47 and certainly Franklin County Children’s Services — so, definitely those three,” she said, “Of course, the presidency, really up and down the ballot.”
Issue 1 would establish an independent, citizens redistricting commission to draft Ohio’s state and congressional district lines in an effort to end gerrymandering. It would remove politicians from the map-making process.
The two other issues are levies for county services. Issue 46 renews and expands an existing property tax levy from 1.9 mills to 2.5 mills to fund services for kids and families in Franklin County struggling with abuse neglect or dependency. Issue 47 would fund an expansion of COTA bus service including a program known as bus rapid transit with sales tax.
“It’s going to be a game-changer,” Spicer said of the transit issue’s impact on her community.
Whitehall is situated just a few miles east of downtown Columbus, but without a car it can be difficult to make that trip for work or school. COTA’s LinkUS plan would bolster existing bus lines with a rapid line stretching east into Whitehall and another reaching west to Prairie Township.
“It’s going to allow people to access places that, you know, they generally have had trouble accessing in regards to work, in regards to play, having fun,” she said, “It’s going to open up a variety of opportunities and possibilities.”
Follow OCJ Reporter Nick Evans on Twitter.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.